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Step 1
First of all we have to make a new file, so go File > New and set the height to 100 pixels and the width to 100 pixels with a transparent background (or white, it doesn’t really matter because we’ll be adding another background shortly).
Step 2
Now we are going to be adding a gradient for the background. Select the gradient tool from the tools window and set the foreground colour to #007dee and the background colour to #023f78. Select the radial gradient type of gradient and left click in the middle of the document, and drag to a corner and release. This has made a radial gradient in our document.
Step 3
Next up we are going to be adding a little strip along the bottom. We are going to do this by selecting the Rectangular Marquee Tool and setting the style to “Fixed Size”, the width to 100 px and the height to 5 px. Now click at the bottom of the document and this will create a box with “marching ants” around it.
Step 4
We are now going to be filling this selection with a dark grey. There are a number of ways we can do this, but the simplest is to go Edit > Fill, select colour and use the colour #252525.
Step 5
Now we are going to use the text tool to add some text in the middle of the document. Select the text tool and use the settings I have below (or a similiar font) and type in your initial.
Your avatar should now be looking something like:
Step 6
Last of all we are going to be exploring the layer styles, so go Layer> Layer Styles > Outer Glow.
Now your avatar is finished and should look like:
Welcome to WordPress, this is your first post, edit or delete it, then start blogging, this is your first post.
Neat! Looks kinda like the Photoshop logo.
Thanks Minty, I suppose it does yes
Thank you James!
This is an awesome tutorial!
Good Tutorial, Would appreciate if you post some more advanced Photoshop tricks.
Thanks,
Mohit
what is the prefered format to save it as?
I like to save all of my work in a .psd format (Photoshop Document). This saves all of the layers and keeps the image at a very high quality. Although the downside is that it is a large size.
Any files that I want to share with others or upload to the internet I save as an optimized (80%) .jpg (File > Save Optimized As) or a .png file for images with transparency (IE 6 and before screws up the .png transperency though).
Great job, thank you! I too would like to see more basics and advanced stuff. Im just starting to use photoshop, as a tool to create flash movies. Any help there would be appreciated!
Minty, I’m working on a tutorial on the pen tool, I use it in a lot of my Photoshop work, it might be a good place to start. There’s a lot of scope for awesome designs with that tool
I got my avatar ready. Thanks. It is simple and detailed.
OKay, umm after you select the gradient tool how do you put in those numbers.
Set your foreground colour to one, and the background colour to the other. The foreground and background colours are under the tools in the tools window – just click it to bring up a window to change the colour number.
Thanks I made it!
thanks, i like how u teach, very comprehensive
~PS beginner
Awesome! ;D
Very Good for Beginners .
thanks alot im a phtoshop newb and you just opened the door for me
Thanx Dude., much appreciated.
Simplicity.
Sharing of ones knowledge to help others. Why cant we all just work Open_Source!
Thanks man. Im in a photoshop class and Im just starting out so I appreciate your tutorial.
Thanks for the wonderfull tut
Here’s my outcome:
http://www.ipix.lt/images/56618746.jpg
Does any one knows, if the fonts in photoshop can be viewed in their characters instead of just the name? Like paint shop pro for example?
the only problem is that you saved it as an 80% jpg. youre losing image quality every time you save it that way, and then it loooks crappy